Ten Seconds
by your royal highness
Summary: In ten seconds, your life could change completely. For Ziva David, an extra ten seconds inside a closet with Anthony DiNozzo was all it took. Tiva, set during 'Cloak'


**Disclaimer: I do not own NCIS **

Everything could change in a matter of ten seconds.

In ten seconds, you could be the mother of a newborn child.

In ten seconds, you could watch your loved ones be the victims of a mass terrorist bombing.

In ten seconds, you could lose all hope, all love, all glory of everything and anything.

In ten seconds, you could go from being famous to infamous.

In ten seconds, you could go from fighting to kissing passionately.

In ten seconds, you could be unconscious, on the ground, after trying to fight for you life.

In ten seconds, you could see your life flash before your eyes, and every feeling inside your body leave.

In ten seconds, Ziva David knew she had to hide, she had to run.

"_Take the first window on your right. You have fifteen seconds." _McGee spoke into her earwig, and she and her partner, Anthony DiNozzo, spun around quickly, spotting a door on her right. Tony flung it open and quickly walked into the small janitor's closet, and Ziva jumped in just in time for him to close the door. She could hear his ragged breathing, and she could hear the armed security guard walk into the hallway they were previously in. She knew he was walking their way, and Tony's breathing was quickened; harder than before.

"Stop breathing." She hissed, and she could barely hear him breathe an 'okay' back to her before his breathing abruptly stopped. She could see the faint silhouette of the guard as he paused in front of their door. She felt a pant leg brush up against hers, as well as Tony's breathing in her ear. She turned her head and came not even six inches away from her partner's face.

Her breathing stopped, her heart started beating, and she realized just how close they were. She inwardly growled at herself. _Stupid! Stop it! Stop it! You've had feelings for him before, you can't have feelings for him again! He never had feelings for you! He never will! Let it go! Let it go! _Her mind was screaming at her, begging for her to stop. Her eyes wandered to his lips, and she could tell that the guard wasn't moving; he was pacing up and down the corridor, as if he was waiting for them to get out.

He didn't say anything, he just stared down at her, while her eyes were fixated on his lips. Should she do it? She should not? She didn't know. Was it just her, or were his lips moving closer to hers? She was moving closer to him? No. She had trained herself not to. But yes, his lips were definitely moving towards her. She could still hear the guard outside. _Not now, Tony, not now, please. _She wanted to shout, but she didn't want to blow their cover. Was the guard waiting for them to come out? Oh, she couldn't think of anything besides the fact that Tony's face was gradually getting closer to hers. She caught her breath, as if she hadn't been holding it in the whole time, as she felt his nose brush up against hers. _He was being brave today, wasn't he? _Ziva thought as a shiver flew up and down her spine. She heard the guard get up as she felt his warm breath against her lips. She felt his nose brush up against hers again, and then he hesitated, pulling back before going back in.

"_Okay you two, green light. You can come out now." _McGee said into both of their ears, and they quickly broke away from each other, Ziva's hand reaching for the handle as she opened it up and they stumbled out, a little confused at what had just happened. She tried to force herself back on track as she punched in the pass code to the other door at the end, her heat beating in her ears. They had almost just kissed a few…an abrupt alarm went off as the door closed, and she spun around, all feelings for her partner gone. Instead, they were replaced with fear. The guards would come after them; she could take care of them easy, but what about Tony? He wasn't trained to do that. He was trained for field work, not infiltrating a top secret base.

She looked at her partner with wide eyes, in fear, as she heard herself spit at him, "What did you do?!" _Stupid! Imbecile! Idiot! How could you blame him? You know he didn't do anything! _

"Me? What did you do? Run! RUN!" Tony screamed, and she felt his hand on her back as he started running towards the door, and she followed, only to notice a guard coming. Tony stopped, and she almost ran into him as Gibbs and McGee started freaking in their earwigs. They ignored them. Well, Ziva ignored them. She was too concerned about what was going to happen to them, happen to Tony. They started going the other way, and saw a guard with a gun running towards them in the same direction.

"Tony!" Ziva screamed, pulling his arm through a door and down another corridor. McGee and Gibbs continued to shout orders, but everything was just a blur. And, Ziva's fears doubled as McGee said:

"_Uh oh…uh oh….we've lost the feed! We're blind, boss."_

A guard was after them; Ziva had heard the door closed behind them, and she knew that he had a gun. She reached for the first door on her left and they ran inside, a man pointing his weapon at her. "They haven't made us!" Tony said, even though Ziva knew that that wasn't proper English. Tony both stumbled back as they saw the man, "Yet." Tony gulped.

"On the ground! Now!" On reflex, and against Tony's wishes ("No! No no no no!", he had obviously seen the look in her eyes), and smacked the weapon out of his hands and punched him across the face before wrapping her arms around his waist and chucking him, hitting the table and rolling off. Another guard came forward, his gun also drawn. He had it trained on her, and about to pull the trigger when Tony intercepted it and pointed the gun up in the air as the gunshot went out. Ziva ducked, unconsciously, and she didn't notice anything until she stood back up, and Tony was pushed up against a wall, the gun butt facing her partner's as the guard pulled it back and slammed him in the face.

"HEY!" Ziva shouted in pure terror as Tony tumbled to the ground like a rag doll, and that was when her Mossad senses picked up, and she kicked his gun before kicking him in the groin. More guards came in, and she groaned inwardly, wanting nothing more than to see if Tony was all right. _But you know he's not all right, Ziva. You know that a hit to the nose that hard could kill you. He's dead, Ziva, he's dead. Just fight your way out of this. Do it for Tony. _She kicked a bunch of guys, running on pure adrenaline and anger for them taking out her partner. She didn't dare glance at him, though, she didn't want to feel sadness and hurt in her heart. Suddenly, she was aware of two arms around her, keeping her from moving. A rather large woman with a gun walked in, and she kicked her into the wall before she growled and the woman pointed the gun barrel at her. She wanted to glance at Tony, but she knew that she couldn't; the guards were blocking her. The woman dropped her gun and right before her fist collided with her face, and everything went black, the last thing she thought was:

_I should have kissed him…Shalom, Tony. _

In ten seconds, Ziva David knew she had made a mistake. Whether it was not protecting him, or falling in love with him, she didn't know.

In ten seconds, her life changed.


End file.
